OAKHURST – Now that you’ve set your clocks back an hour, it’s time to set your calendar back a hundred years! The Sierra Historic Sites Association will host Christmas at Fresno Flats, an old-fashioned winter holiday celebration, from noon to 4pm on Sunday, Dec. 1.

MARIPOSA – The Yosemite Area Audubon Society will lead a birding field trip to the Merced Falls Reservoir (McSwain Forebay) beginning at 8 a.m. on Saturday, Nov 16. Everyone will meet at the Mariposa rest area adjacent to the Mariposa Museum and History Center just off Highway 140.

OAKHURST – The Oakhurst Community Center was packed on Tuesday, Oct. 29, as folks from all over the county gathered to learn more about creating emergency access routes in neighborhoods where there is only one way in and one way out. District 5 Supervisor Tom Wheeler hosted the meeting, along with Madera County Road Commissioner Johannes Hoevertsz.

OAKHURST – It’s at this time of year that people who feed hummingbirds think about putting away their feeders for the winter. After all, rufous hummingbirds, those aggressive coppery dazzlers, have come and gone, and the fall migration is essentially over. So why continue to leave out your feeders? Local resident Barbara Robinson, a USGS Master Hummingbird Bander, will shed ...

AHWAHNEE – A special Monday concert at Coolwater Ranch features master guitarist Richard Smith. Smith was born in Beckenham, England. He picked up the guitar, when he was five years old, after watching his father playing an Atkins and Travis version of Down South Blues.

MADERA COUNTY – After weeks of testimony in what was described by Judge Dale Blea as “the longest preliminary hearing I’ve ever been involved in,” the court heard closing arguments in the arson case against Kenneth Jackson and Allison Waterman on Monday, Oct. 28. Jackson and Waterman were arrested on June 25 and charged with 31 counts of arson and ...

MARIPOSA — This is prime pumpkin time, people! Whether you’re looking for one to carve or to grace your autumn table, you may want to visit Jerseydale Ranch Pumpkin Patch. We go very year, and every year it gets better. It’s a pretty drive out there, depending on where you live, and not too far from the Triangle Café, which ...

YOSEMITE LAKES PARK – We think you’ve been good, so mark your calendar for Saturday, Nov. 9, as the original LOL – that’s Ladies of the Lakes – invite you to their Holiday Boutique at the Yosemite Lakes Park Clubhouse, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. With over 50 vendors including local crafters, artists and home-based businesses, the day is ...

SIERRA NATIONAL FOREST – The Bass Lake Ranger District, Sierra National Forest, is preparing to implement the fall/winter burning program. Projects will consist of three activities: pile burning, broadcast, and underburning. “The objective of underburning is to reintroduce low intensity fire to the ecosystem on a rotational basis,” says District Ranger Dave Martin. “Prior to European settlement, lightning and Native ...

AHWAHNEE – Back in the Gold Rush Days, a good prank or a practical joke brought much needed relief to the realities of what was a very hard life. The “Clampers” still love a good bit of fun, but they are also dedicated to the promotion and preservation of western history. E Clampus Vitus, Grub Gulch Chapter 41- 49, gathered ...